Pink For Emily: Stayton High Honor Alum Tuesday Night

STAYTON, Ore.–Tuesday was more than a doubleheader of basketball games between Philomath and Stayton, so much more.

It was to remember one of their own, a recent Stayton Grad who sadly passed away a few days ago.

Yesterday, I stopped by Stayton High School to pay respect to Emily Reedy; though I never met her, I knew and I saw, how much this recent grad meant to this small community just east of Salem through social media and in person those few minutes i was there Monday afternoon. I found myself tearing up a bit as I walked to my car that late Monday afternoon as about 150 people paid their respect to Emily during Monday Night’s event as was brought to my attention Tuesday Night.

Tuesday night, that support for Reedy grew as the community swarmed to the High School wearing her favorite color of Pink to show their support for her while her alma mater played the Warriors of Philomath.

Jerry Daniels sporting the pink headband during Tuesday’s Game (Picture By Jeremy McDonald)

Both the guys and girls wore pink ribbons attached to their pregame warmups, Jerry Daniels was sporting a pink headband while others were wearing a shade of pink socks in support of Reedy.

“It shows a lot of the community support for her,” said Tess Hendricks. “I think it’s making people come closer together.”

“It’s cool, she totally deserves it,” adds Aidan Hill. “She was such a bright person, wherever she went, she was always positive, she was always smiling. She always had a smile on her face. She was out there, she was really about the school, she was really about everyone close to her.

“Even the people not close to her, she was making sure they were ok,” Hill continues. “It’s cool because this community has been going through a bunch of rough times, a lot of rough stuff and to see this community keep coming together every time something’s struggling or something going on it’s cool.”

And right before their tip, Athletic Director and Girls Head Basketball Coach Darren Shryock acknowledged Reedy to the crowd as they bowed their heads in a moment of silence.

“She was a great kid, to know her is to love her,” said Shryock of Reedy. “She has infectious laughter, smile. Just a tremendous addition to our school when she was here, her legacy lives on. Just an unbelievable kid,”

Around the crowd as the guys battled Philomath down the stretch, cutting a 14-point deficit to a one-possession game into the fourth quarter, you saw people wearing pink. You saw Reedy’s former teammates and coach wearing T-Shirts honoring her that night.

The crowd on both sides of the gym stands wore pink in honor of Emily Reedy (Picture By Jeremy McDonald)

“It’s awesome,” said Cheer Coach Jenna Stoyles. “If there’s anyone that deserves this honor, it’s Emily. I mean she’s…honestly, if she wasn’t the person who she was, I don’t know if we would be making it through the community would be making it through as well as everyone is because she was so happy, she was so heartwarming and positive.

“It’s hard to be negative and sad about it because she wasn’t that way.”

Stoyles couldn’t pinpoint a precise memory of the Oregon State Student being that there’s been so many made, but she would remember the 2016 Eagle Grad would be getting into her PT Cruiser, turning up the music and loudly singing for the whole parking lot to hear.

As the girls took the court following the guys game for their big 48-42 victory over the Lady Warriors, they knew it wasn’t entirely about what was happening on the court as much as them supporting each other as a strong community remembering one of their own in Emily Reedy.

“Well, I was thinking with Kyle (Denton)and Ty (Hart) is that when the chips are down, our community is all in to help each other, support each other and do whatever it takes and this is no different,” Stayton High School Principal Alan Kirby describes the city when one of their own needs the support.

GAME NOTES- Boys Basketball- Kaleb Annundi scored 22 points, 10 in the fourth quarter as the Eagles battled back from a 14-point deficit to four in the closing minutes in the 64-58 loss to Philomath. Jerry Daniels added 11 more points and Cade Nau added another 13 in the comeback effort as they turn their focus to Cascade Friday.

“I felt like it was a good fight, I feel like we handled the adversity pretty well but I felt like we handled it a little to late in the game,” said Annudi. “We just have to use it as fire, we’re 0-1 in league right now, we have to go get the ‘W’. We have to go earn a win.”

Girls Basketball- It was an old fashion slugfest in the girls game as the Lady Eagles found a way to nab their first league win entering their toughest game of the year versus their undefeated rivial in the Cougars Friday evening in Turner.

“I definitely think it was a tough game but got a momentum going and were able to pull through,” said Alyssa Lindemann, who her and teammates Alexa Bender scored a team high 15 points in the victory.